algerian forces. other reports say that some escaped. u.s. officials will not confirm the status of american hostages. abc news reporter has the latest >> the situation in algeria is fluid and complicated but tom officials are clear on one thing: we condemn strongly what has taken place. this is a serious matter when americans and others are taken hostage. >> panetta told abc news that there could be up to 100 hostages including seven or eight americans at the natural gas facility partly owned by p.m. panetta told abc that the hostage takers have rocket propelled grenades. >> what we will do is continue to look at the situation and determine what steps need to be taken. >> here is what is known. the siege began wednesday morning and an estimated 20

gunman attacked a bus with international workers which wases cot -- was escorted by two security teams. the terrorists moved to the compound where they are embedded with hostages. officials believe the attack was coordinated by a rogue al qaeda leader in africa who is the head of an organized crime network. he is reportedly made millions in ransom money from kidnapping, diamond smuggling, drugs and cigarettes. b.p. said in a statement that the british and algerian governments say the algerian army is trying to take control of the compound but the company has no confirmation of hostages being released or casualties. >> we have breaking news from a chemical explosion on the uc davis campus has injured one person. police say a junior researcher was injured this morning in a small explosion inside an

apartment on campus. several units have been evacuated. investigators found chemicals in one unit. police say they do not know what the researcher was doing. new this morning, a blow to boeing airlines that fly the new boeing 787 dreamliner which were grounded overnight. they had to scramble to rebook thousands. unite was the only carrier in the united states to book the plane, airlines in india, and qatar, and japan and ethiopia have grounded the jets. the dreamliners were ground over flaws that could cause fires. officials are investigating battery-related problems following the emergency landing of an ana dreamliner in japan on tuesday. now the airline has put on hold the service to san jose that launched only last week. >> it is one of the most bizarre stories to hit sporting world in

years. an all american football player is the victim of a cruel hoax involving a girlfriend who never existed. that player is manti te'o of the university of notre dame. he said yesterday he was the victim of a sick joke and the woman he thought he had an online relationship with wasn't real. manti te'o thought she was a stanford student and developed leukemia and was an inspiration for him. a reporter who broke the story is not buying this. >> a lot of people are very suspicious when manti te'o said he had no idea and he was the sucker because why would someone go to such great lengths to hoax him? >> notre dame officials are standing behind manti te'o. their investigation started in december. he was being truthful. the fictitious girl allegedly sended stanford.

amy? >> kristen, there is disbelief here evident on the front page of the student newspaper saying "unreal." there is some regret among the editorial staff. check this out call by miles bennett smith who apologized for small uncovering the hoax. he realized if a student dies in a car crash and has leukemia campus we know. he could have broken the story so regret at the newspaper. here is what else we heard on campus today. >> to be honest, it is not on my radar but it seems very silly and unnecessary. that's pretty much all i think. >> it is just a level of humans being duped in the past no one would hear but now everything is a headline so everyone knows. >> as far as campus officials they checked the ridge --

registration in was in student by to name. she does not exist here at stanford. that is all the campus wants to say. i asked why they would not comment further and they said this is nothing else to say. the students at the newspaper hear disbelief on campus, shock, and people rolling their eyes over the silliness. >> amy, thank you. the story has many wondering how this could happen and brings to light scams called cat phishing which is when someone create as fake identity and mean someone and develop a relationship with them. and not until later the victim learns the person was never real. a real life cat phish victim created a documentary about it, and matt shows how he fell for a woman online only to learn she never existed and it was scam created by a schizophrenic mother of two and now is a tv

show on mtv. what do you think? we want to hear your thoughts on the story. post your comments on our facebook page. >> police are warning the public of another brazen child abduction attempt. a man resembling this grabbed the hand of a child inside a store january 6 and tried to talk away with the boy. the mother started yelling the man let go. he is described as asian and 50 to 60. he is between 5' 4" and 5' 8" and weighs 200 pounds with a pot belly and receding hair. san jose police are asking for help identifying the man who tried to snatch a two-year old girl from her mother's arms. this is the sketch of the suspect. he is hispanic. between 25 and 30: he has a thin build. he was wearing a red baseball hit, blue jeans and a light shirt with jell-o -- yellow

stripes and smelled like motor oil. he tried to put her daughter away before running away. >> people looking up reviews for san francisco restaurants can soon turn to yelp for how safe and sanitary the food is. we are live in the castro district with details on a just-announced partnership. >> the mayor lee made the partnership with yelp official. we are asking the crowd, how much information do you want to know about your favorite restaurant? more than 3,500 restaurants in san francisco but finding one you like can take searching. >> i go to the same restaurants over and over. many turn to yelp to hear about food and service but it does not tell the whole story. >> it is helpful to know about a person's experience but not getting information about the

cleanliness. >> but you will soon know about your favorite restaurant or a new one, yelp is partnering with san francisco's health department to provide users health inspection ratings along with customer comments, all in the name of transparency and food safety. >> the manager of this cafe says customers have a right to know. >> this makes the restaurants clean up their act or makes them, you know, lets the customers know. >> the data could gross you out. >> too much information for you? >> no. no. no. i want to know more. yeah. i want to know everything about all the germs. >> others say they don't. they will rely on first impressions. >> it is common sense. you go somewhere and it seems gross, you can make your own

decision. >> the health inspection regarding restaurants is always available online but yelp's partnership will ramp up the next few months in the city. >> breaking news, long time deer dear abbey columnist died after a long battle of alzheimer's disease. she started in the mid-50's and followed by millions of readers thousand the world. still ahead, the new embarrassment lance armstrong is facing from the olympic committee ahead of tonight's tell-all interview with oprah winfrey. a lawsuit that is going

>> lance armstrong has been stripped of the bronze medal he won at the 2000 olympic games. they sent armstrong a letter asking him to run the medal hour s before an interview with oprah where he is expected to admit to doping. many former teammates will likely watch. >> he has been lying for years, lying to presidents, to larry king, to oprah before, he has been lying about how many tests he passed, 500 tests, he only took 250, lied about not seeing a known doping doctor. he lies about everything.

so, now, to come out and actually change and say and admit he was doping during his career, it is a big step. >> armstrong lost his seven tour de france titles and faces lawsuits from former sponsors and possibly the government. >> san francisco's new ban on public nudity is being challenged today in federal court. the ban is set to go into effect next month. a lawsuit filed by four nudists in november is seeking an injunction based on a violation of constitutional rights. city attorney will argue on behalf of the ordinance at the u.s. district court in san francisco. the attorney for the plaintiffs wants it to apply to all nudists not just the four that filed the suit. >> from a practical standpoint today is not the best day to express nudity because it is still cold. >> still cold and chilly. i will have the morning lows coming up and here is a live view look at hazy conditions

toward san francisco with the seven-day outlook up ahead. and the giants world series trophies

>> santa rosa, berkeley, san jose and all the bay area, this is abc7 news. >> a very special passenger boarded a virgin america plane from sfo bound for new york. that is the world series trophy sitting next to san francisco giant c.e.o. larry filing first-class and headed to the big apple for mvp ceremony and will be on display for the old-time giants fans who rooted for the team, remember, when it played in new york, 56 years ago. >> willie may started there and continued the career in san francisco. the trophy and the world series victory, we think it is for anyone that has worn a giant as uniform or followed the team. >> the world series trophy flew on a special virgin america plane with a beard. passengers were able to take pictures with the trophy and even got commemorative rally

towels as they boarded. lucky passengers. the san francisco 49ers are holding a road trip sweepstakes for a trip to atlanta for the championship game on sunday. the winner gets two round trip airline tickets to games and a stay at the team hotel. the sweep states have been open since monday but the team just publicized it. you can use the link we have at abc7news.com but you have to hurry, because you have to do it before noon today. 49er fans have been sending us their photos. this year, a 15-month-old anderson in the new favorite sweatshirt bringing the team good luck and the 49ers have been christmas tree, look at that, the viewer says it will stay up until february 3rd through the super bowl. you can e-mail your photos to ureport@kgo-tv.com and we will post them and show as many as we

can. >> meteor or another bright object could have passed over the bay area this morning. several viewers have told abc7 they saw a bright fireball in the sky around 5:25 this morning, possibly in the area of pittsburg so if you catch the photo or video of the mysterious object can you send it to ureport@kgo-tv.com, consistent with the possibility of a meteorite. >> except for santa rosa where you have fog, and here is another live picture to enjoy, you can seat haziness which is the cold air trapped at the surface with high pressure pushing down over us, so we have hazy conditions today and looking at live doppler 7 hd, clear skies around the bay area and it will stick around for quite some time. temperatures right now are in the 40's and 50's and santa rosa is cool at 41 and 52 in san francisco and half moon bay is

already reporting 60 degrees compared to yesterday at this time we are a few degrees warmer in many locations, half moon bay being nine degrees warmer and santa rosa cooler because of the early morning fog, with more sunshine, they will get up there this afternoon. how cold was it this morning? you might have noticed one one o two degrees warmer, 43 was the moderate spot in san francisco, but still chilly and novato only 27 degrees and fairfield the same as yesterday, 26 degrees, 32 in san jose, so, hazy today, a "spare the air" day and clear and cold tonight and warmer highs into the weekend. poor air quality projected if the coast and central bay, the north bay and inland east bay and moderate quality elsewhere and it looks like another "spare the air" alert is issued for tomorrow so no wood burning today and probably tomorrow. highs in the upper 50's to low 60's, 62 in santa rosa and san francisco is 58 and 62 in san jose, notice how the numbers are

a few degrees warmer, look at slow nasa, 68, a high for today, and 66 in santa cruz. tonight, we will be chilly again with a clear sky, so it will be cool, but not as cold. so, 32 in concord, still chilly, vallejo and napa at 30 and 28 was the cool spot in santa rosa and moderate in san jose. be careful at the beach with 8' to 10' waves expected into saturday morning with occasional waves and rogue waves bigger than that and a high surface advisory in effect for the weekend saturday into sunday, looking forward to mavericks and swell up to 20' and right now only 3' to 4' but that will change tomorrow, so rip currents in the weekend and large breaking waves. two areas of high pressure creating the strong ridge, and that is bringing us the warming trend into the weekend and dry weather through the week. you may have asked, how dry has

it been this month? we have only had two days of measurable rainfall in san francisco last week, looking dry to the middle of next week and compared to december, tons of rain, 13 days, several over 1" so, don't worry, though, we are still well above normal so you can enjoy the next seven dry days and temperatures coming into the weekend, with mid-60's above average and will couping down the beginning of next week. >> we will take it, frances. listen to this a google photo of a donkey causing a last alarm on the intent. the company clears the

>> coming up at 3:00 on "katie" how a rapper is building an empire. and new camera technology that promises to clear up all of your picture challenges. on abc7 news at 5:00, it is not too late to get the flu vaccine ahead of the nation-wide outbreak and in the wake of the first reported death in santa clara county, we will tell you where a clinic is held over the next two days. those stories and more on abc7 news at 4:00 and 5:00. finally, if a picture is worth a thousand years google know as couple more pictures can say a great more. this photo of a donkey lying on a dirt road was taken in mexico. some accused google of running over the animal. to answer those would assumed the worst, google released

morphotos from the sequence showing the donkey was lying in the road and up and going shortly after the vehicle passed. so, for harm done. it looked like he was taking a nap. >> a siesta. >> thanks for joining us. "who wantsñç to be a millionair" is next. now the abc7 news exclusive alarm clock app is available for droid and apple apps. t atint insoe en ilyel y s luloonge iuronirplin ocdiou

r om

[drac music] ♪ [cheers and applause]

>> hello, and welcome toe. millionaire. back with me is a very excited art director from right here in new york city. please welcome back cristy rhoads. [cheers and applause] hey, cristy. now, before we recap where you are in the game, i love the way that you ended up here on the show. your mom, who's in the audience, lettie--nice to see you, lettie. big fan of our show, lives in california. you came here. your mom wanted to just be an audience member, and you said to her last week, "oh, why don't we just try out," right? >> right, so i said, "why don't we just try out for the show and see if we make it?" so we came here and took the now she's in the audience, and now i'm here in front of you. >> so you both got what you wanted. how great is that? >> yeah, exactly. >> and you're doing a fantastic job. $27,500 in your bank. deserves applause. 9 away from the million. >> fine. >> 5 away from round 2. and you still have one lifeline left, "jump the question." so are you ready to play? >> i am ready to py.